El Capitan previous purchase not working?

[Soflonole27]

Hello all,

Let me start off by saying I have 2 Macs. A 2012 27" iMac (Sierra) that I purchased after my late 2008 MacBook Pro 15" suffered a failed hard drive, and crack in the display. Tonight I removed the glass display on the late MacBook to discover that the LCD is not damaged at all and I can get both problems fixed for 70$ DIY style.
Since the internal drive is toast I bought a replacement, however, I will need to install the OS X onto a flash to recover. Sure, I could pay for a download from Apple. However, on my new Imac, I purchased El Capitan OS X previously. My question is.. Is there a way to download from the App Store and make a bootable flash drive of El Capitan, to revive my old MacBook Pro?

PS: In the app store I re-downloaded El Capitan, but since the iMac is running Sierra it will not open. However I can locate the folder contents. Is that enough to make an ISO?

 

[Audit13]

If you downloaded the full el capitan is, don't open the installer and try this: http://osxdaily.com/2015/09/30/create-os-x-el-capitan-boot-install-drive/

 

[Soflonole27]

Thank you, I will give it a go and see what happens!

 

[Soflonole27]

If you downloaded the full el capitan is, don't open the installer and try this: http://osxdaily.com/2015/09/30/create-os-x-el-capitan-boot-install-drive/

Exactly what I was looking for! It worked like a charm.

 

[allan.nyholm]

I don't know why everyone keeps linking to sites different from Apple Support pages:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201372

 

[MacGizmo]

I don't know why everyone keeps linking to sites different from Apple Support pages:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201372

Because who cares as long as it's correct? Because Apple's Support pages tend not to be the first thing that pops up in a google search? Because if you need a solution, you go where you're comfortable?